
Underrated Hawks midfielder and fantasy stud Liam Shiels is set to miss six weeks with a fractured wrist.
This is rough for Hawks fans to swallow, especially after news surfaced that Jarryd Roughead will not likely be seen until the second half of the season after having his PCL reconstructed.
‘Pup’ as his teammates call him was injured in the final quarter of the Hawks’ NAB Challenge match against North Melbourne on Saturday night.
“Scans yesterday revealed Liam has a hairline fracture in his right wrist,” Hawthorn football manager Chris Fagan said
“What that effectively means is he’ll be out for somewhere between four to six weeks.
“Liam has had a really good pre-season to date and it’s a disappointing result at this stage of the year.”
Supercoach and Dreamteam
He is the unsung hero of the Hawks midfield. He scored 96.6 Supercoach points per game in season 2015 and is priced at $521,300 currently.
Given he is out for approximately six weeks it’s awfully hard to make a case for including him in your squad for Round 1.
However, given its a wrist injury he’ll still be able to stay pretty fit and get plenty of kilometres into the legs before he returns. He’s a player that will be fresh and ready to go during the tricky middle part of the season where players often appear a bit sluggish.
As Mitchell and Lewis get older Shiels role within the Hawks midfield continues to become more and more important. Monitor his health as when he’s fit and ready to return as he could make for a great inclusion straight of the waivers in Draft leagues.
Daily Fantasy
He’s the fourth highest priced Hawks midfielder ($8,100) on Moneyball behind Luke Hodge ($9,000) Jordan Lewis ($8,900) and Isaac Smith ($8,200).
Shiels was a very consistent DFS player last season with just the one score below 60 for the entire year.
Fellow young gun Isaac Smith will get plenty of opportunities through the middle as will usual suspects Lewis and Mitchell.
As for Shiels replacement in the Hawthorn 22?
Billy Hartung and Jonathan O’Rourke are two names AFL DFS players need to remember. Both players are priced below $5,000 and are both big chances to play on Easter Monday.
Keep a close eye on the teams ahead of the Hawks Round 1 clash with the Cats to snag some value.